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NEWS &
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FEATURES |
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“THE
NINES” VIRTUAL CONFERENCE |
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9 September 2009:
Some 6,000 people registered for an
unconventional conference that featured about 75
speakers and their nine minutes of wisdom.
“The Nines” was an entirely online event that takes
place Sept. 9, 2009 beginning at 9:09 a.m. Central Time.
And it’s completely free.
“The economy has really affected a good number of
churches, particularly smaller ones. And two of the
first things cut from church budgets during difficult
times are ‘travel’ and ‘continuing
education/conferences,’” Todd Rhoades, producer of The
Nines, explained to The Christian Post.
Leadership Network teamed up with Catalyst – a next
generation leaders conference – to try a “new way of
gathering church leaders,” he said.
The event was hosted in Atlanta, Ga., but unlike most
other conferences, there were no speakers or attendees
at the venue. Rather, webcam videos sent from renowned
and lesser-known church leaders are being broadcast to
anyone who signs on to the event in cyberspace.
Speakers – John Ortberg of Menlo Park Presbyterian
Church, Nancy Beach of Willow Creek Community Church, Ed
Stetzer of LifeWay Research, Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill
Church, Greg Surratt of Seacoast Church, and author
Leonard Sweet, among many others – were asked to respond
to the question: “If you had nine minutes to talk
one-on-one with thousands of church leaders, what is the
one thing that you would tell them?”
Although organizers expected only about 20 speakers to
participate, they received nine-minute videos from 75
church leaders and communicators who were eager to share
their passionate and personal messages with fellow
leaders.
“The idea of The Nines is to have good, diverse, short
form content, where speakers speak to their passion and
strength about what God is teaching them right now,”
said Dave Travis, managing director at Leadership
Network.
The videos, according to Rhoades, are motivational,
inspirational, or informational.
Considering the conference takes place only on the
screen, the event may draw some criticism from those who
do not believe church video venues are effective or
biblical. But Rhoades believes many churches have moved
past that debate and that video is the new normal.
Although not all churches are using video teaching,
Rhoades commented, “I think we’ve turned a corner in
that many churches and pastors see the power of video
and even online offerings. YouTube, Ustream, Hulu, and
other online video venues, as well as the number of
churches that are doing live streaming have really
helped this type of thing be seen as more and more
effective and commonplace.”
If successful, The Nines could be a game changer, says
Travis. But he adds, “Don’t misunderstand me. I think
people will always want to go connect face-to-face with
other friends at conferences. I would hate it if there
were only online conferences.”
Participants have the opportunity to interact during the
online event on blogs, Twitter and other social
networking sites.
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This page
is updated on Sep 18, 2009 |
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PRAISE THE ALMIGHTY
10 YEARS CELEBRATION
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